J. E. Donnellan
J. E. Donnellan, physician and surgeon. Germantown, was born in Champaign County, Ohio, October 7, 1824, and is the youngest in a family of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, three of whom are living. His parents emigrated from Baltimore, Md., in 1812, and settled on a farm near Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio, where his father died in 1829, and in 1832 his mother removed to West Alexandria, Preble County, Ohio, where she resided until her death in 1853. At the age of eighteen, our subject having received a good education, began teaching school, which he continued during the winter season for several years, pursuing a private course of study in the summer months. In 1848, he began the study of medicine in the office of his brother, Dr. N. Donnellan, of West Alexandria, at the completion of which, in April, 1851, he entered upon the practice of his profession, at Farmersville, Montgomery County, Ohio, where he remained two years, diligently laying the foundation of future success. He occupied the same office with H. Elliott, Esq., who was then just commencing the practices of law, but who is now the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Dr. Donnellan removed to Germantown May 3, 1853, having formed a partnership with Dr. C. G. Espich, an old and popular physician, who had been a successful practitioner of medicine in this place from its earliest settlement, and this partnership continued until Dr. Espich’s death, November 24, 1853. Dr. Donnellan was married, March 16, 1854, to Mary M. Hiestand, whose parents came from Lancaster County, Penn., to this county at an early day, of which union they have had two daughters, Emma (deceased) and Annie. The Doctor has taken a deep interest in the progress and development of Montgomery County. He has been for twelve years a member of the Board of Education in Germantown; was one of the Directors of the Montgomery County Infirmary from 1860 to 1866; is a charter member of Germantown Lodge of F. A. A. M., and was for several years its Master. Since 1851, Dr. Donnelly has been in constant practice, with the exception of four months in 1864, when he was a member of the One Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment Ohio National Guards. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and the family adhere to the Reformed Church. Politically, he is a Republican. The Doctor stands among the most enterprising citizens of his township.
From The History of Montgomery County, Ohio, W.H. Beers & Co., 1882